Safety attachment for cars.



PATENTED JUNE 7', 1904'.

y B. LEV. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR CARS.

APPLIOATION FILED DOT-17, 1902.

no 110mm.

AIIEEIT T WM m UNITED STATES Patented June 7, 1904.

PATE T OFFICE.

BENJAMIN LEV, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO AMERICAN SECURITY AND TRUST COMPANY, TRUSTEE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,687, dated June '7, 1904. Application filed October 1'7, 1902. SerialNo.,127,614=. (N model.)

and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains'to make and'use the same,

My invention relates to safety attachments for railway-cars; and the object of the invention is to provide an attachment which is sometimes referred to as a fender, but which is designed to be affixed to the front of a car, and generally a street-car, and to serve thereon.

as a safety medium to pick up and carry any one who may accidentally come in the path of the car and who would otherwise probably be crushed and killed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my new safety attach- Inent shown 'on a car and in normal position Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the attachment in abnormal position, as when a a body has been caught thereon.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the front of a car, and B the carrier portion of the attachment, which is set at more or less inclination at the front of the car and with its front portion down normally relatively, as seen in Fig. -1, and supportedat its rear upon a cross-rod b resting at its ends against the hangers D and adapted to run up and down on the edge 4 of said hangers, as will hereinafter clearly appear.

Upon the front of the carrier or frame B, I provide spring-buffers b and Z), which are adapted to yield sufficiently when they strike an object to avoid injury to the person, but which at the same time are strong enough to constitute a part of the carrier itself and to assist in holding up any one who may be thrown upon the carrier.

It may here be stated that all safety attachments withwhich I have been familiar have not only the objection that they are so supceive further injury in that way. know the art there has never heretofore been ported that they are apt to ride over the prostrate body, but if they gathered it up there was the further danger that the body would not be carried, but possibly rolled off and re- So far as I made a safety attachment or carrier which has had a free up-and-down movement at its 7 rear in order that the carrier may be brought into a holding position and protect a body relatively, as is shown in the present invention.

My idea is to run the carrier at a plane low enough at its front to intercept a prostrate body of a child or small animal, and then as the body is thrown back upon the carrier the carrier itself drops at its rear and rises at its front, thus forming a cradle or receptacle which will hold the body in safety while the car moves on. To these ends the present construction provides for the dropping down of the rear end of the frame B from its normal position, Fig. l, to its using position, Fig. 2.

The hangers D are a'fiixed to the front of the carrier-frame and have hooks d at the bottom, into which the rod 6 drops from its highest position, Fig. 1, when the weight comes upon the carrier. Sheaves or rollers 7) at the ends ofrod run on the edges 4: of

hangers D and form an easy travel of the frame B up and down, so that comparatively little weight will change it, while otherwise it remains fixedly in its up position. Each hanger D has two short posts (Z and d at its top and check-links B, pivoted on the posts cl at one end and on the side of frame B at 2 at their other ends and serve to carry frame B at its front. An inwardly-projecting lug b on link B lies across the edge of frameB and limits the upward movement of the said frame at its rear. Obviously any other possible means for limiting such upward movement may be substituted; but this is a convenient way of doing it. The rollers b ride up on posts or extensions (1 of the hangers-.- There is also shown a spring-wire fender C,-pivoted up'on rod 6 and standing up at the rear of frame B directly in front of the body of the car and provided with supporting-springs 0, thus providing a cushion for a person that may be thrown against said frame, which always stands in an upright position whether frame B is in one position or another. The posts or lugs (Z are perforated to provide adjustments for the links B, so as to give any necessary elevation to the front end of the carrier B. Now having the parts arranged as seen in Fig. 1 and assuming that the car is in motion and that a person is caught and thrown upon carrier B the instant this occurs the said carrier drops down at its rear by reason of the Weight thereon and the front end thereof is in the same operation automatically carried up. Thus the point 2 at the front ends of links B becomes a fulcrum on which frame B pivots, and as there is a fixed length to links B and fixed pivots on posts d it must follow when the rear of frame B goes down that the front thereof should go up, and thus its inclined position becomes practically reversed, as seen in Fig. 2. It remains in this position until changed by hand. Thus it will be seen that the said carrier is operated wholly by the weight of an object coming onto the same rearward of its pivots or fulcrum-point 2 and that the striking of an object alone does not effect the change, as in devices of this kind generally. If a car he traveling at any considerable speed, a person would be not only picked up, but doubtless thrown violently upon the rear of the. carrier and against fender C. This, however, would simply contribute to the instant dropping down of the carrier at its rear, and thus .insure the persons safety so far as getting under the car is concerned, because the parts would at once drop to position Fig. 2 and hold him there until relieved. A peculiarity of this carrier is that it is longer when reversed, as in Fig. 2, than normally, as in Fig. 1, which is advantageous in handling cars especially, for it is desirable to get these devices as much out of the way aspossible.

When the parts are as in Fig. 1, the lug (Z on the rear and bottom of link B rests against the base of post (Z on the hanger and prevents the front of the attachment from drop ping below a certain point to which the parts are adjusted.

Any equivalent of any of the parts herein described may be substituted, and sundry changes may be made here and there without departing from the spirit of the invention.

V hat I claim is 1. In a safety attachment for cars, a carrier and side links on which the carrier is pivoted forward of its center, and guides on which the rear of the carrier is adapted to freely run up and down, said guides having stops to support the carrier, substantially as shown.

2. The attachment for cars comprising suitable hangers for the front of the car, a carrier-frame pivotally supported therefrom at its sides, and having its rear end free to ride up and down on said hangers, and a springfender attached to the rear of the carrier, substantially as shown.

3. A car having hangers at its front with vertical guiding edges and stops at their bottom and front, in combination with a safetycarrier adapted to run up and down on said guiding edges and rest on said stops, links from said hangers supporting the front of said carrier, and a spring-fender at the rear of said carrier and movable therewith, substantially as shown.

1. The safety attachment comprising hangers having straight guiding edges, a carrier adapted to run up and down on said edges and a stop on said hangers to limit its downward movement, and supports for the carrier extending from the top of said hangers to the front and sides thereof and constructed to raise the front of the carrier when the rear thereof is lowered, substantially as shown.

5. The car and the hangers thereon having stops at their lower ends, in combination with a pivotally-supported carrier provided with rollers adapted to run up and down on the edges of said hangers, substantially as shown.

6. The car and the hangers thereon, in combination with a carrier having a spring-fender aflixed to its rear and supporting-links from the top of the hangers to the front of the carrier, said carrier and fender arranged to ride together up and down on said hangers, substantially as shown.

\Vitness my hand to the foregoing specification this 30th day of September, 1902.

BENJAMIN LEV.

\Vitnesses:

R. B. Mosun, H. F. Frsuua. 

